The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2016 April;56(4):428-32

EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS

REVIEWS

Brief review of the state of art in futsal

Marco BEATO, Giuseppe CORATELLA, Federico SCHENA

Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy

Futsal (the official name of “five side indoor football”) has become very popular in recent years, and it counts more than 12 million players in over 100 countries. Futsal is played on a field of 40 x 20 m between 2 teams of 5 players, (four outfield players and the goalkeeper). Despite its rise of popularity, the number of scientific studies related to training modalities as the demands of the match or factors linked to the performance, are quite limited. This brief review aims to explore the few papers published on futsal, taking in consideration some conclusions that can be drawn from previous studies related only to futsal and indoor football players. Future studies should examine the physical demands during the matches, the variation of physical performances during the season and compare different classic training modalities to sport specific exercises, aiming to improve the current knowledge for coaching.